stitutional relations with the federal government. This domestic war has been protracted long enough. It is the interest of humanity that it should be closed as speedily as possible. It would come to an end to-morrow if the European states should clearly announce that expectations of favor from them must be renounced. The policy of finance to which you advert has been considered carefully by Congress. The system which seems to have been settled upon, and which in part has gone into legislation, seems to us a very safe and wise one. The government will issue treasury notes for currency which will be a legal tender except for duties on imports and the payment of interest on the national debt. The imports will be collected in gold and silver, and the interest on the national debt will always be paid in coin. Taxes will be levied to an amount ample in every case to pay the interest and constitute a sinking fund adequate to the ultimate payment of the principal of the public debt. The wealthy men of Holland will have to look very far abroad to find safer investments for their capital; and there are abundant indications that the national credit, under this system, will be cheerfully sustained by our own citizens. The prospect of an early end of the civil war is already accepted by all classes of our people, and we shall perhaps be ceasing to borrow while those who have little faith in republican institutions are considering whether it is safe to lend. I am, sir, your obedient servant, SIR: I have before me your despatch of February 11, No. 37. You think that it is only the fear of a pressure, resulting from want of cotton, that sustains the opposition in Europe to our blockade of the southern ports. On the other hand, it seems quite clear to us here that it is only the recognition of the insurgents as a belligerent power by the European states that sustains the insurrection, which renders a continuance of the blockade necessary. If this opinion is sound, I cannot believe it will be long in reaching the consideration of the parties most deeply interested. Our military and naval operations continue to be successful. But the press relieves me of the necessity of advising you concerning this the most important part of our affairs. I am, sir, your obedient servant, JAMES S. PIKE, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 46.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Pike. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, March 10, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of February 19 (No. 38) has been received The system provided by Congress for managing the national revenues has gone before the country, and it is found to be satisfactory. The revenue bills, which constitute the foundation for that system, are now maturing, and there is no doubt that they will be perfected with equal satisfaction. The country, under the operation of the financial system thus to be completed, is likely to become quite independent of foreign credit, while its industry will be invigorated to an extent unknown in our former history. To-day the insurgents are relinquishing the siege of Washington; and thus the first year of the insurrection ends in its discomfiture, which renders a reorganization necessary at the very moment when the excited passions in which the unhappy movement originated are subsiding, and the masses are prepared for a return to sober councils and loyal purposes. The financial condition of the insurrection is hopeless. Even before their retreat from Manassas gold commanded a premium of fifty per cent. in Richmond! What will be its value now? How long can the European powers reconcile their people to the evils they suffer from this war, and induce them to believe that their sufferings result from fault on our side, instead of a useless concession of belligerent rights to the insurgents on their own part? SIR: Your despatch of February 26 (No. 38) has been received. I think we have reason to be satisfied with our fiscal system. Gold fluctuates between one per cent. and one and a half per cent. premium, and as yet the tariff and tax bills have not become laws. The favorable progress of our arms still continues, and the heart of the country is sound. I I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD. JAMES S. PIKE, Esq., &c., &c., &c. Mr. Pike to Mr. Seward. No. 42.] UNITED STATES LEGATION, The Hague, March 19, 1862. SIR: The late successes of the federal arms have, in my judgment, put an end to all thoughts of interference in our affairs by European powers. There is no longer any question among the doubters that we have a government of stability and force. The recent events have re-established the national prestige. Already has it been said to me by the distinguished personage who is the barometer of a very broad opinion in Europe, that it is apparent the present war is not to interfere materially with our national growth or development. The only thing which has occasioned even a ripple on the current now setting so steadily in our favor is the late remark of Lord John Russell, in Parliament, that in his opinion it is best for the north and south to separate. My interpretation of this observation is, that Lord John only means to repeat a remark he has frequently made within a year, that slavery being the cause of the war, the restoration of the Union on the old basis would lead sooner or later to a repetition of the disorders now witnessed, and that separation is their easiest cure and only antidote, unless it be emancipation, which he does not contemplate. There are a number of governments in Europe just now whose stability is reckoned considerably below par, and to whom has been transferred the superfluous solicitude lately manifested for the concerns of the United States. In fact, the rulers of Europe may be said to have, more than ever, their hands full of their own concerns, and which grow in perplexity just in proportion to their diminishing hopes of the failure of republican rule on the other side of the Atlantic. I do not think, from what I see and hear, that the project of setting a European prince upon a Mexican throne has ever taken any serious hold upon Europe. But the suggested conditions of the proposition never had any weight with Austria or anybody else. Spain, being swollen by her unopposed entrance into St. Domingo, her ancient pride of power has revived; but no designs of recolonization which that government may entertain will be countenanced by the powers which alone can give them vitality—at least so long as the United States government keeps the weather hand of the slaveholders' rebellion. You may be certain that the idea of a revival of hereditary rule in the American States that have shaken it off is not seriously entertained in Europe. If I am not wholly mistaken in my observations, there is nobody in the world so well convinced of the weak and failing character of this basis of government as the reigning families of this continent. I have the honor to be, with great respect, your most obedient servant, JAMES S. PIKE. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, No. 43.] Mr. Pike to Mr. Seward. UNITED STATES LEGATION, The Hague, March 16, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of the 27th of February reached me on the 21st instant. I have lost no time in laying its contents before the new minister of foreign affairs, Mr. Van der Maesen de Sombreff, and shall hope for a favorable response. I see no reason why this government should decline to return to the policy of Baron Von Zuylen, especially since England has followed his example. The new ministry is at length fairly under way. The minister of foreign affairs is a young man from the interior. The men of affairs in Europe are looking inquiringly, rather than dogmatically, now upon the progress of events in the United States. Struck by the national successes, they wait to see the impending revolt against the revolution in the seceding States before being willing to admit it will come. The suggestions of emancipation lately propounded by the President are received with mingled favor and doubt. Favor, in regard to their character and design; doubt, of the ability or willingness of the free States to carry them out. After a long revel of doubts and sneers, the opinion is again becoming noted that the United States government is abundantly able to manage its own concerns. Events are looming both in the north and south of Europe that tend to divert attention from America, and which may soon attain a dimension that will eclipse transatlantic affairs altogether. So far as the future is concerned, the condition of things in the United States, bad as it is, seems to be stability itself when compared with the rickety state of the political system of Europe. The whole continent is but a pent volcano, with only here and there a standing ground not torn with threatening fissures. To say that it has been so from the time of Charlemagne is not to dispute the fact that it is so now in a pre-eminent degree. The desire to transplant this system to the American continent, at this period of the world's history, is an audacity tnat I do not see any reason for imputing to the troubled heart of European royalty. I believe they are looking to America rather as a refuge than as a future theatre for their offspring. * I have the honor to be, with great respect, your most obedient servant, * * * * * * * Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington. No. 44.] JAMES S. PIKE. Mr. Pike to Mr. Seward. UNITED STATES LEGATION, The Hague, April 2, 1862. SIR: Since my last I have had the honor to receive your two despatches of March 8th and 10th, Nos. 45 and 46. Your suggestions, now renewedly repeated, that the European governments will have themselves alone to blame if their commercial intercourse with the cotton States is much longer obstructed, if vigorously urged upon the leading maritime powers by our ministers, cannot fail to produce effect. Those powers ought to be earnestly pressed to withdraw their recognition of belligerent rights to the seceding States, and themselves thus end the war which is occasioning them so much concern and inconvenience. I have twice drawn the attention of this government to this point already. But it is hard to move these secondary powers in a matter of general importance before the large powers have acted. It was only by great urgency that Baron Von Zuylen was induced to adopt the policy of excluding the confederate vessels from the Dutch ports before any other government had adopted it. And the moment a new man took his place who had not been pressed, he immediately ran away from the position. The most I can hope now is, that Mr. Maesen will restore the policy of Baron Von Zuylen, which would be the best starting point for them to get where we would like to have them. If we could get a good example from Russia, whose sympathies we can surely count on, we might gradually undermine the position of England and France on this question, should they not be otherwise disposed to leave it, by getting the smaller powers to follow her lead. Since conveying the substance of your despatch on this subject to Mr. Maeson, of which I advised you in my last, I have addressed him the follow ing note. ANNUAL MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT. "UNITED STATES LEGATION, "The Hague, March 28, 1862. "SIR: In the absence of any reply to my note addressed to your excellency on the 22d of this month, allow me to solicit your earnest attention to the suggestion contained therein, that this government should review the whole question of granting belligerent rights to the States in revolt against the American government. "Our late overwhelming successes demonstrate the impossibility of the triumph of the seceding States, and show that the insurrection must fail. "The commercial interests of Europe and the claims of humanity alike demand of European governments a policy adapted to the present situation in the United States. "If the seceding States were to be informed by the European courts that they would resume their former relations to the United States, and no longer accord the rights of belligerents to the secessionists, Europe would but little longer complain of suffering in consequence of the state of American affairs. It is hoped by the United States that this view being present to the mind of all European governments they will with a common accord, by this plain and easy line of policy, withdraw that moral support which alone now give a lingering existence to the slaveholders' rebellion. 66 "The undersigned begs, &c., &c." I have the honor to be, with great respect, your most obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington. JAMES S. PIKE. Mr. Seward to Mr. Pike. No. 48.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, April 2, 1862. SIR: Your despatch of March 12 (No. 41) has been received. Your account of the system of finance and revenue existing in the Netherlands is very interesting. In the belief that it may prove useful in the present emergency, I shall take pleasure in procuring its submission to Congress. I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD. JAMES S. PIKE, Esq., &c., &c., &c. No. 50.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Pike. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, April 8, 1862. SIR: I have read with much pleasure the interesting and encouraging account you give of an improved public opinion concerning our affairs in Europe in your despatch of March 19, (No. 42.) I am, sir, your obedient servant, JAMES S. PIKE, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. |